I do a split upper/lower routine a personal trainer has set up for me, 3 times a week. Core work is part of every routine.

For lower: Leg press/squats, deadlifts, single leg deadlifts, lunges(multiple iterations), leg curls, toe press, calf raises, and choice of core work. I do a lighter weight and higher reps (3 sets of 12 reps).

For upper: Dumbbell bench press, dumbbell shoulder press, dumbbell fly, single arm dumbbell curl, single arm tricep extension. lateral cable or dumbbell raise, wide grip cable pull down, seated cable row, and choice of core work.

I will do Upper, Lower, Upper week one. I will do Lower, Upper, Lower week 2.

I have been doing this routine for ~3 months now and will probably be changing it up soon.

I am just curious as to what everyone out there does for cross training and what you think works best for you. I was also curious as to how much weight training you do and how often. Thanks!:happy:

I swim and bike! Also, I have found the strength training regimen outlined in Brain Training for Runners to be really helpful. I stopped for now, as i am in the middle of marathon training and my body isn't quite ready for the load of plyo-type exercises and running. But for the next cycle (fall marathon prep), I plan on incorporating that stuff into my routine. Also, next winter I would like to do some stronglifts 5x5 work, to get ready for the rigors of the rest of the year. One thing that I will definitely not do again is try prepare for a spring marathon up here in New England!!

Unless it's Boston, of course.

good luck!

I'm trying really hard to maintain a full body lifting session twice a week, focusing on using about 60-75% of my highest weights when I was doing stronglifts. And, instead of doing a 5x5 workout, I aim for a 3x8-10.

I do P90x3. It's only 30 minutes which I love!! I used to get injured easily. I had a nagging hip injury that would flair up if I put in too many miles. Once I started doing the cross training, my hip doesn't flair up and I have a lot fewer injuries. I highly recommend xtraining!!! DEW IT!

I am just curious as to what everyone out there does for cross training and what you think works best for you.

I cycle, row and do bodyweight resistance training.

I'll generally either take my road bike out for a long, fast ride, or take my mountain bike out on the trail. Both quite different in the effect with the MTB giving me quite a lot of upper body effect. An hour on the bike is about 25K on the road at the moment.

I have a WaterRower at home and about once a week I'll do an hour on there, a mix of steady pace and intervals that'll give me 13-15km.

I use YAYOG a couple of times a week. I should probably actually use weights but my work pattern precludes it, I'm away from home a couple of nights a week and weekends tend to be set aside for the long run/ ride.

I started cross training because I actually started training for multi sport (Triathlon). But it's been great. My legs have never been stronger from the cycling and my upper body is getting stronger from the swimming. I really think this has helped to keep my running injuries at bay. Once my tri season is over for the year I am going to keep up with the cycling and swimming a couple times a week while training for my next marathon. I see the benefits of it without a doubt. I was doing some lifting but that got dropped from the schedule, a person can only do so much.

I have winter schedule and I have a spring,summer and fall schedule

Winter schedule - I do lots of weights and work on my upper body. I run only 2 time a week.

Rest of the year it's reversed - I do weights 2 or 3 times and run a lots.

Yoga is all year round twice a week.

Hope this helps. But I loved your question ... Helped me look at options.

Do you guys have any specific sites/books you refer to for your lifting? You all seem to do it (sensibly!) but where did you take the ideas from?

I'm running 30 miles per week at the moment but need to strengthen my core (and everything else really). Is there a bible for this?

Basically, to summarise the poorly put together questions above, what exactly did you do to go from runner to core of steel runner who could hold posture? Thanks in advance!

I sleep.

I might do 100 pushups a day if I think about it. But sleep, mostly sleep for me.

???????????????? This is me 100% but I do yoga for recovery sometimes when I think about it ????